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Saturday, December 31, 2011

Too many people abuse the term "homage" as a euphemism of "rip off" (I know I'm guilty of this myself, though I use it facetiously). When I use "homage" in this review, its intended use is the proper definition; "respect or reverence paid or rendered."

Ken Coffman's Fairhaven (ISBN: 978-0982773420) is a loving homage to the works of Charles Willeford, specifically the Hoke Mosely series (Miami Blues, Sideswipe, et cetera). The title plays off "The Grimhaven Manuscript" which I described in "Madness in the 20th Century" as:

An early draft for the second book in the Moseley series, New Hope for the Dead, is commonly known as "The Grimhaven Manuscript." Herein we witness Hoke burnt-out from his job as a homicide detective. He begins a quest for "absolutely nothing" and determines that this may best be attained through killing off his ex-wife and two daughters. Needless to say, Willeford's publisher refused the draft. The second (and successful) stab at the sequel, stands as not only the best of the Moseley books but of Willeford's oeuvre.

The Fairhaven of Coffman's title is Charlie Fairhaven, a rest home nursing assistant who finds too much pleasure in euthanizing patients around the Pacific Northwest. Curmudgeonly retired cop Jake Mosby (not to be confused with Hoke Mosely) gets reluctantly involved in the case when one of the customers at his decrepit bookstore dumps it in his lap.

Initially I was afraid that Mosby's grandson, Nort, would become a precocious source of comic relief a la Grandma Mazur from the Stephanie Plum books. Fortunately, Coffman handles Nort and all of the other oddball characters of Fairhaven well. Likewise, Coffman could have made Fairhaven more of a jokey send-up of Willeford. Instead, his references to Willeford's work are brief, appropriate, and appreciated.

Monday, December 26, 2011

Though I took a few months off between touring Impossibly Funky around after 2010, I kept trying to work that publicity angle throughout the early part of 2011. I completed my second book tour in late May/early June and, in effect, I completed book touring altogether unless I suddenly find myself with some kind of lucrative publishing deal some day. I met a lot of great people but I sure didn't sell enough books to make the trip worthwhile.

A lot of the folks I met on my travels with Impossibly Funky in 2010 and 2011 ended up writing for me in the "Revenge of Print" issue of Cashiers du Cinemart. This came out a month early in August though I have yet to get all of the old school photocopied and stapled issues out to my distributor (and, thus, out to stores). In the meantime, CdC 16 is available via a print-on-demand service.

In March I co-founded a podcast, The Projection Booth. Since then there has been a new episode (or two) available each week. Nearly all of them feature interviews with the filmmakers behind the movies covered. It's been great connecting and/or re-connecting with folks and sharing my love of some terrific films.

Doing all of the research for the show has really helped bolster my confidence and led to benefits for other work that I've done in 2011 including the piece I wrote for the new Paracinema magazine all about horror parodies of the '80s and the chapter I wrote on Airplane II: The Sequel for an upcoming book from BearManor Media.

I had a blast hanging out with Greydon Clark in April at Horror Hound and in September. I'm still hoping to work with him on his autobiography (fingers crossed). I also had a lot of fun with the fine folks at the Blue Water Film Festival. BWFF marked the fist time that Chris Gore and I ever officially met (though we were both in The People Vs. George Lucas).

Along with Horror Hound and Blue Water, I also attended the CIMMFest in Chicago in April where I got to see the premiere of Freaks in Love, the Alice Donut documentary.

If you know me, you know how much I love to travel. 2011 marked the first year I'd been to Europe since 1991, and my first time on the Iberian peninsula. Andrea and I had a blast in Barcelona. I miss it just about every day.

Please feel free to go through the archives of this blog for more fun or check out the links below. Stay tuned in 2012 for more good stuff.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

I'm really happy to see that my upcoming article on horror parodies of the 1980s has made the front cover of Paracinema 14. Being OCD, I went a little nuts doing the research on this one, talking to Jeff Begun of Saturday the 14th, Alfred Sole of Pandemonium, Greydon Clark of Wacko, Chris Bearde of Hysterical, and more. Stop by Paracinema.net to pre-order a copy now!

Thursday, December 01, 2011

NEW YORK, NY; December 1, 2011 - Scheduled for February 7-12, 2012, the ninth annual CineKink NYC will feature a specially-curated program of films and videos that celebrate and explore a wide diversity of sexuality. In addition to screenings, plans for the festival also include a short film competition, audience choice awards, a special adult entertainment showcase, presentations, parties and a gala kick-off, all to be followed by a national tour.

Billing itself as "the kinky film festival," the event is presented by CineKink, an organization dedicated to the recognition and encouragement of sex-positive and kink-friendly depictions in film and television. With offerings drawn from both the independent cinema world and the adult, works presented at CineKink NYC will range from documentary to drama, comedy to experimental, slightly spicy to quite explicit--and everything in between.

"We're once again looking to blur some boundaries and spice things up with our programming," said Lisa Vandever, Co-Founder and Director of CineKink. "Our audience has come to expect a quality selection of smart and sexy works and, judging from the films that have come in so far, the 2012 season will not disappoint!"

CineKink recently completed its 2011 national tour in Chicago, concluding a season that also saw the festival visiting Austin, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Portland and Washington, DC.

A call for entries to submit works for CineKink/2012 runs until December 12, 2011, and the festival line-up and schedule for CineKink NYC will be announced in early January.

The People vs. George Lucas came out recently on DVD. If they ever do a sequel, the clip below needs to be in it. I'm reminded of my rant about how the prequels were originally supposed to roll out and which characters were supposed to be in them. Watch it before George suppresses it.